Focus cli­mate com­mu­ni­ca­ti­on: Pro­ject PEAK laun­ched

PEAK stands for Perspectives on Engagement, Accountability and Knowledge. The im
PEAK stands for Perspectives on Engagement, Accountability and Knowledge. The image was created by the AI Midjourney with the input of the project name.
The University of Innsbruck is enhancing its science communication in the fields of climate, biodiversity, and sustainability. A key development in this initiative is the creation of a new online platform, designed to showcase the university’s extensive scientific expertise. This platform, part of the ’PEAK’ project (Perspectives on Engagement, Accountability, and Knowledge), offers insights into current research and includes a growing database of expert profiles.

Numerous scientists at the University of Innsbruck are working on various aspects of climate, biodiversity and sustainability. In order to make data and facts, fundamental processes and, above all, ways out of the climate crisis more visible and accessible, the University of Innsbruck will focus even more strongly on climate-relevant topics in its scientific communication in the future, thus fulfilling its social responsibility in the sense of its Third Mission. The acronym PEAK stands for Perspectives on Engagement, Accountability and Knowledge and symbolises the range of perspectives on the climate and biodiversity crisis as well as options for action. In addition to the natural sciences and technical sciences, the social sciences and humanities with their socio-political issues also play a major role. PEAK is also a reference to a research focus that arises from the unique location of the University of Innsbruck in the middle of the mountains: the Alpine region, which is particularly affected by the consequences of the climate crisis and has been anchored at the university for many years as a cross-faculty research focus.

Expert database with full-text search

In a first step, a website was created as the centrepiece of PEAK, on which current reporting can be found; it also integrates a growing list of experts from a wide range of disciplines who are available to media representatives as reliable contacts in defined subject areas. Each scientist is represented here with their own overview page with contact details, main topics, short biography and a selection from their media presence to date. This list will be continuously expanded in the future.
The PEAK website is intended not only as a national, but also as an international impact platform and is therefore available in German and English. PEAK is work in progress: the creation of this website is the first step in a long-term conceptualised project that includes the continuous expansion of online channels, the development of training and further education formats and other networking initiatives.

uibk.ac.at/peak